Record marijuana bust: Seven tons of pot seized at Arizona border

Nogales Area Port Director Guadalupe Ramirez talks about the record marijuana… (U.S. Customs and Border…)

Border officials have made what is believed to be the largest marijuana seizure in history at an Arizona border crossing.

Agents at the U.S.-Mexico border in Nogales confiscated seven tons of marijuana this month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers reported Wednesday.

The marijuana is worth as much as $12 million, authorities said.

The Jan. 15 seizure took place after agents at the Mariposa Cargo Facility in Nogales, Ariz., singled out for inspection a 26-year-old man from Nogales, Mexico, and the tractor-trailer he was driving. Inside the trailer, officials said they found 600 bales of marijuana weighing 14,151 pounds.

The driver was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. His name was not released.

Previously, the largest drug seizure had occurred in June 2010 at the same port of entry, when agents confiscated 12,000 pounds of marijuana.